Caltech Is Apple’s Latest Patent Foe

California Institute of Technology, the top-notch science and engineering school in Pasadena, Calif., has filed a lawsuit against Apple AAPL and chipmaker Broadcom BRCM for allegedly infringing on its patents for wireless technologies.

In a court filing in a federal court for Central California, Caltech accused Apple and Broadcom of profiting off the use of its Wi-Fi technology in devices including iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, and Macs. The patents relate specifically to the way Wi-Fi standards, including 802.11n and 802.11ac, use encoding and decoding to improve data performance and transmission.

The Caltech lawsuit, which includes four patents, is a bit complex. The lawsuit takes aim at Broadcom because its chips allegedly use the technology, but it also targets Apple, a Broadcom customer that uses the chips in its products.

Apple is no stranger to lawsuits. The company has been waging a patent battle with Samsung since 2011, when the companies both argued the other was stealing their technologies for smartphones and tablets. While they ended up dropping most of their suits, they’re expected to battle over patents in the U.S. Supreme Court later this year.

Apple has also faced several lawsuits from so-called “patent trolls,” or companies that hold patents they either acquired or obtained by inventing technologies. Patent trolls don’t actually create products and instead rely on lawsuits and royalties to make money.

The case involving Caltech, however, is different because the school often invents technology and tries to commercialize it. In some cases, the university licenses technologies that it patents.

With Apple and Broadcom, Caltech argued that the companies used its patented technologies without its permission. The university is seeking unspecified damages.

While the case is far from being settled, Apple doesn’t have the best history when facing off against universities. As The Verge earlier noted, last year, a jury ruled that Apple must pay the University of Wisconsin-Madison $234 million for violating patents it holds in both iPhones and iPads.

Apple declined to comment on the Caltech lawsuit. Caltech and Broadcom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“You know, I thought I knew until last night,” Cook said, answering a question from former European Commissioner Neelis Kroes during the question-and-answer session on where and when the iPhone was invented. “Last night, Neelie took me over to look at some Rembrandt and, in one of the paintings, I was so shocked. There was an iPhone in one of the paintings. It’s tough to see, but I swear it’s there.”

While the painting was in fact created by Pieter de Hooch, Cook’s joking comments weren’t so far off. Of course, the iPhone didn’t exist in 1670 when the painting was made. But a closer inspection reveals a woman holding what appears to be a touchscreen-based smartphone. Of course, an Apple AAPL CEO would see an iPhone in the painting, but one might be forgiven for believing it’s a handset from his company’s competitors, like Samsung and HTC. It’s even being held in the same way a person would hold a touch-based smartphone.

In reality, the woman is holding a letter, and the iPhone was unveiled in 2007 after several years of work went into its development. Since then, the iPhone has taken the world by storm and driven record revenues and profits for Apple. It’s also proven to be one of the few standards by which all other devices are judged.

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Cook’s comments were obviously a joke and are simply a reaction to his interpretation of a painting, but it’s not a far-fetched interpretation. Now it might be time to look for other paintings that showcase the iPad to see when that was actually invented.

Apple Sued Over iPhones Making Calls and Sending Email

Apple has been hit by one of the more shocking patent lawsuits in recent memory.

A company that seemingly does nothing but license patents or, if necessary, sue other companies to get royalties, has taken aim at Apple AAPL. But here’s the kicker: the lawsuit alleges that Apple’s last several iPhones and iPads violate a slew of patents related to seemingly standard features, including the ability to place calls as well as sending and receiving emails.

A total of six patent infringement claims were brought against Apple by Corydoras Technologies on May 20, according to Apple-tracking site Patently Apple, which obtained a copy of the lawsuit. The case was brought against Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Corydoras is headquartered in Texas, where many similar companies that buy up or file their own patents and sue others for royalties operate. That’s mainly due to some success the companies have had in Texas courts.

According to Patently Apple, the counts against Apple cover every iPhone dating back to the iPhone 4 and every iPad dating back to the iPad 2. In addition to taking issue with Apple’s devices placing calls, the lawsuits also allege that the tech giant violates patents Corydoras holds related to video calling, which is similar to Apple’s FaceTime, as well as displaying a person’s geographic location through a feature like Find My iPhone and the ability to block unwanted calls.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment on the report. Corydoras is only listed as a limited liability company in Texas, but it does not appear to have a website or any other method of communication and was not contacted on its lawsuit.

Corydoras has been called a “patent troll” by Patently Apple, among other critics. The term is used to define a company that doesn’t actually sell anything, but buys up intellectual property designed by others (or invents its own technologies) to profit. While these companies are often viewed in a negative light and try to skim royalties off seemingly ridiculous features in some cases, it can pay off. Some patent trolls make millions each year off the sale of devices they don’t make.

For those companies, therefore, there is little risk. Patents can often be acquired for a small amount and a simple court filing is sometimes enough for major companies to settle out of court and pay a nominal royalty. Others like Apple, however, like to battle it out.

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That said, it hasn’t always worked out in the company’s favor. Last year, for instance, Apple went to court in what was called the “plaintiff friendly” U.S. District Court in Texas, only to lose the case. That one was brought against Apple by Smartflash LLC for the company allegedly violating three patents related to copy protection. Apple was ordered to pay $533 million.

For its part, Corydoras hasn’t only targeted Apple. In March, the company brought a similar suit against the world’s top smartphone maker, Samsung. That case is still pending.

As the Smartphone Market Grows, the iPhone’s Share Is Shrinking

The smartphone market has not been kind to Apple in the first quarter, according to new data from research firm Gartner.

Apple sold 51.6 million iPhones during the first quarter of the year, making the company the world’s second-largest smartphone maker and earning it 14.8% market share. However, that was down from 60.2 million iPhone sales in the first quarter of 2015. Apple’s market share a year ago was also substantially higher at 17.9%.

The iPhone maker’s troubles came about despite a growing smartphone market. In fact, Gartner found that consumers around the world bought more than 349 million smartphones, topping the 336.3 million smartphones bought during the first quarter of 2015. So, while the smartphone market itself grew, Apple AAPL earned a smaller slice.

It was a similar story for Samsung, which saw its industry-leading market share shrink from 24.1% in the first quarter of 2015 to the 23.2% last quarter. However, Samsung’s total unit sales were up slightly to 81.2 million units.

Gartner’s findings are not all that surprising given Apple’s recent quarterly financial report. The Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation announced last month that for the first time in the iPhone’s history, revenue was down year-over-year by 18% to $32.9 billion. The company’s unit sales were also down 16%.

While Apple (and many analysts) argued that its troubles would not be long-term in the smartphone market, it was a notable decline and one that investors were concerned about. Some analysts say Apple’s iPhone business could be down iuntil the company launches the iPhone 7 later this year.

It’s important to note, however, that despite those troubles, Apple still generated billions in profits in its last-reported fiscal quarter.

Still, the first quarter was rough on Apple. The chief reason for that, according to Gartner, was “emerging brands.” The market intelligence firm noted that China-based Huawei saw its sales soar in the first quarter from 18.1 million units last year to nearly 29 million this year. Oppo, another Chinese smartphone maker, had the best year-over-year performance, more than doubling its market share from 2% last year to 4.6% this year. Oppo sold 16.1 million smartphones during the period.

“In a slowing smartphone market where large vendors are experiencing growth saturation, emerging brands are disrupting existing brands’ long-standing business models to increase their share,” Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner, said in a statement. “With such changing smartphone market dynamics, Chinese brands are emerging as the new top global brands.”

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On the operating system side, Gartner told a similar story. Google’s GOOGL Android grew its worldwide market share from 78.8% during the first quarter of 2015 to 84.1% last quarter. Apple’s iOS, meanwhile, was down from 17.9% share to 14.8% this year.

Microsoft MSFT had about as bad of a first quarter as Apple, as sales of its Windows-based smartphones fell from 8.3 million units to 2.4 million. The company’s market share slid from 2.5% to 0.7% of the worldwide smartphone industry.

Just How Popular Is the iPhone in China?

The number of iPhones currently in-use in China exceeds even those running in the U.S., according to a new report.

The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), a state-run agency that monitors the country’s Internet, reported recently that there were 780 million smartphones in-use in China at the end of 2015. Out of that pool, Apple’s iPhone was the most popular smartphone, securing 16.8% of the market, according to the CNNIC report, which was earlier found by Quartz. Apple was followed by Samsung’s 15.8% market share and China-based Xiaomi, which was able to nab 15.6% of the market, according to the report.

The most important finding, though, was that the data suggests there are now more than 131 million iPhones in-use in China at the end of 2015, making it a larger market for Apple than the U.S., which is estimated to have 110 million active iPhone users, according to data released earlier this year by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

China’s importance to Apple AAPL has been a topic of interest in recent weeks after the company last month announced its fiscal second quarter earnings. Apple revealed that while it generated $12.5 billion in revenue in China, that result was down 26% compared to the same period in 2015.

China has long been viewed as critical to Apple’s business thanks to its massive population and booming middle class. However, consumers in the country have become more discerning and have apparently started to move away from Apple products for alternatives. The shift resulted in Apple CEO Tim Cook needing to reassure investors that Apple could regain its footing in China. He’s also currently in India, where he believes, Apple could generate significant revenue in the coming years as more of that country’s consumers come online and enter the middle class.

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Putting a number on how many iPhones are actually used in China is an important data point as analysts and investors look to the future.

While Apple shares total iPhone unit sales, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company doesn’t say how many of its devices it sold in each country. Now that the CNNIC has apparently spilled the beans, the data point can be used in the future to see how the iPhone’s popularity is waxing or waning in a country that generates billions of dollars for Apple each quarter.

Apple Tries to Make You Cry With Its New Mother’s Day Ad

Apple’s latest ad is aimed at showcasing what its iPhone camera can do—and how mothers are using it.

In its latest ad, “Shot on iPhone—Mother’s Day,” Apple’s AAPL 30-second reel shows videos and photos taken on the company’s iPhones by people around the world. The video shows a mother crying at the sight of her baby’s birth, smiling mothers with their kids, and other touching portraits. The ad ends with Apple’s standard, simple tagline: “Moms. Shot on iPhone.”

“Celebrating motherhood through the lens of iPhone users around the world,” Apple wrote in its description of the ad on YouTube.

Apple’s advertising have been somewhat iconic over the last few decades. The ads have ranged from the now-famous “1984” ad to promote Apple’s Macintosh computer as well as the silhouetted figures featured in its iPod commercials. Apple has, in recent years, turned its attention more towards mobile, showcasing its iPhones and Apple Watch devices.

That ad focused on how every one of its iMessages are delivered by renewable energy because they are routed through Apple data centers powered using solar and wind, among other sources.

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With Mother’s Day just around the corner, Apple’s latest TV spot is in keeping with the tech giant’s latest moves. However, some have argued that Apple’s cameras could be a bit better. Indeed, some of its top competitors, including Samsung and LG, have recently launched devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S7, which come with what reviewers argue are superior cameras.

Recent rumors have suggested that Apple will attempt to catch up to its competitors later this year when it announces the iPhone 7. Those reports say Apple will deliver a far better camera than the one already built into the iPhone 6s, aiming to improve its credibility in the mobile-photography market. Such a move might make sense as smartphones have quickly become one of the most popular ways for people to take photos and videos.

For now, though, we’re left with an ad about moms using their iPhones to capture special moments.

Apple’s iPhone Shipments Fell Off a Cliff in First Quarter

Apple’s iPhone business had a rough first quarter, according to new data from research firm TrendForce.

Apple AAPL shipped 42 million iPhones in the first quarter, representing a 43.8% decline compared with the fourth quarter of 2015. It was also down more than 10 million units from the 55 million shipments Apple notched in the first quarter of 2015, according to TrendForce.

“Sales of iPhone 6s have been lackluster as the model lacks exciting new features,” the company said of Apple’s first quarter. TrendForce added that Apple itself has become “more conservative” with its smartphone inventory in preparation of launching its next handset.

Apple’s troubles in the first quarter provided it just 14.4% market share, down significantly from the 20.9% share it had secured in the fourth quarter. Apple had 19.9% market share in the first quarter of 2015.

The findings come on the heels of Apple announcing its latest iPhone, the iPhone SE. The device, which comes with a 4-inch screen, is designed to appeal to the midrange of the market and attract more customers who might be turning to cheaper devices in emerging markets. However, TrendForce, which has offices in Beijing and Shenzhen, says Apple’s latest handset could have some trouble attracting customers in the critical Chinese market.

“As the budget model, iPhone SE will support Apple’s overall shipments in the second quarter before the next major iPhone release,” TrendForce smartphone analyst Avril Wu said in a statement. “However, iPhone SE is going to face severe price competition from Chinese branded products in its target market, which is the mid-range device segment.”

Wu was bearish on Apple’s chances of success with the iPhone SE, projecting that the company will ship fewer than 15 million units this year.

The weak iPhone SE, combined with Apple’s own “conservative” handling of its supply chain, prompted TrendForce to project Apple would ship 213 million iPhones this year, down 10% compared with the previous year.

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Despite the bearish outlook on Apple, TrendForce was surprised by Samsung’s ssnlf success in the first quarter, saying that shipments “exceeded expectations” and reached 81 million units, a gain of 2.5% compared with the fourth quarter. Samsung’s shipments were, of course, boosted by its Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge flagship devices, but nonetheless helped it take the top spot in the first quarter with 27.8% market share. The successful first quarter prompted TrendForce to raise its annual Samsung smartphone shipments to 316 million units, nearly matching its total shipments last year.

In addition, TrendForce noted that the first quarter was a solid one for Chinese companies, which combined to ship 125 million smartphones. It was the first time those companies, including Huawei, Lenovo, and Xiaomi, among others, combined to ship more smartphones than Apple and Samsung together. Huawei was the leading China-based smartphone maker during the first quarter.

“Huawei won’t be able to overtake Apple and become the No. 2 smartphone brand worldwide any time soon,” Wu said in a statement. “Still, the market share gap between Huawei and Apple are expected to narrow with each passing year.”

That said, this is just one quarter and it’s unknown at this point what Apple has up its sleeve for the rest of the year. The company is expected to launch the iPhone 7 later this year, which should come with a new design and several improved features. Apple has been doubted before, but one exciting new device could flip forecasts on their heads. Whether the iPhone 7 could be the device to do that remains to be seen.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the TrendForce report.

Surprise! iOS 9.3 Is Actually Most Stable iOS In Years

A quick run through Apple’s Support forums and a look over Twitter suggests iOS 9.3 is a buggy mess. But that’s simply not true, according to a new study.

Apple’s AAPL iOS 9.3 is the “most stable” release that the iPhone maker has pushed out “in years,” according to a study from developer-service provider Apteligent. In fact, the mobile app analytics firm found that in the eight days after its launch on March 21, iOS 9.3 crashed even less than many of the most popular Android versions that have been available for years.

“iOS 9.3 stands as Apple’s most stable new release in years,”Apteligent noted in its report. “The average crash rate over the past eight days is 2.2%, by far the most stable iOS version. For the sake of comparison, that’s better than any current Android release, including the most recent Android Marshmallow, which stands at 2.6%.”

What’s more, while iOS 9.3 bested the crash rate of its predecessor iOS 9.2 on several devices, including the iPad Air 2.

The findings may prove surprising to anyone who has been reading the countless news stories and user complaints about bugs in iOS 9.3. Indeed, people around the globe have panned iOS 9.3, complaining that Apple had plenty of time to test the operating system before its official launch, and it still suffered from issues.

Apple launched iOS 9.3 at its “Let Us Loop You In” event on March 21. Soon after, users complained that when they didn’t know their Apple ID passwords while trying to update to the new iOS version, the operating system would crash and their devices rendered useless. Apple quickly acknowledged the problem and promised a fix, but offered a workaround in the meantime.

But perhaps iOS 9.3 isn’t as terrible as many have believed. The operating system’s bugs are undoubtedly annoying, but if nothing else, it’s stable, according to Apteligent. Somewhere along the way, as some users suffered from its glitches, the operating system’s reliability factor was lost.

Apple’s Latest iOS Updates May Screw Up Your Apps

An iOS 9 glitch is affecting users around the world by rendering apps useless. But luckily, a fix is on the way.

Over the last couple of days, iOS 9 users have been reporting problems when they click on links inside apps running on Apple’s mobile operating system. In certain cases, the links will simply freeze or return to their homepages rather than direct users to their desired destination.

The problem effectively turns an iPhone or iPad into a half-baked mobile companion that won’t support certain Internet links.

The issue is caused by a feature introduced in iOS 9 called Universal Links. Users who click on a link to Wikipedia, for example, will be automatically redirected to the Wikipedia app they may have running on their device rather than delivering them to the web-based Wikipedia page.

The feature was added to save users from opening links in the Safari browser to access content they could otherwise find in apps. But it doesn’t always work as expected.

Since Apple introduced iOS 9.3 last week, users have taken to the company’s Support forums as well as its @AppleSupport Twitter TWTR feed to complain that they couldn’t open links. When trying links, the users reported that their apps would either freeze or they’d be brought back to an app’s homepage and not their desired destination.

There was very little (if any) talk of an issue with links in iOS 9 before then, leading some users to believe iOS 9.3 was to blame. However, iOS 9.3 does not include any changes to Universal Links, and now, users with older versions of iOS 9 have piped up to say they’ve experienced similar problems.

So, what’s really happening?

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Since iOS 9’s launch in September, an increasing number of app developers have been using Universal Links in their apps. Those developers would rather the links open directly in their apps than in the Safari browser. While most apps have just a handful of links, which iOS 9 can handle without trouble, many developers are adding hundreds or thousands of links to their Universal Links list.

A function built into Apple’s iOS 9 is a reprocessing, or a reevaluation, of links within apps. That function is only turned on when a user updates to a new version of iOS; those who don’t update won’t have their links reprocessed until they finally install an update. So, when legions of users started updating to iOS 9.3, Apple’s operating system automatically started checking for links and found itself overwhelmed by the number of new Universal Links it had encountered since the user’s last update.

In cases in which the number of Universal Links was too much, the iOS 9 device buckled and users were left with half-usable iPhones and iPads.

At this point, it’s impossible to say how many people were affected by the latest iOS glitch. However, this is not just an iOS 9.3 problem. Users who upgrade from iOS 9.1 to iOS 9.2, for instance, could face the same issue. What’s more, it appears that the issue is partly due to Apple’s handling of Universal Links and partly due to the growing popularity of Universal Links among developers. It coincidentally came to a head when users downloaded Apple’s latest operating system.

An Apple AAPL spokeswoman told Fortune in a statement that Apple is “aware of the issue, and we will release a fix in a software update soon.” The spokeswoman did not say when the update would be issued.

Those who haven’t updated to a new version of iOS 9 might want to hold off, given the recent developments. It should be noted, however, that not every iOS 9.3 user is experiencing the issue, which makes this odd series of events even more odd.

Here’s How Much You Spend on iPhone Apps Each Year

Have you ever wondered how much you spend on iPhone apps? It might be more than you expected.

The average iPhone owner in the U.S. spent $35 on apps last year, according to Sensor Tower, an app-marketing company. The total amount includes both downloads of paid applications, as well as in-app purchases.

Not surprisingly, given how popular gaming has become on mobile devices, that’s where most of your cash is going. According to Sensor Tower, which based its data on 110 million active iPhones in the U.S., the average American spent $25 on games last year, a whopping 635% more than the $3.40 they spent on music-related app purchases. Social networking, entertainment, and “lifestyle” apps rounded out the top five, with users spending an average of $1.80, $1, and 40 cents on those app types, respectively.

Apple’s AAPL App Store has become an increasingly popular destination for users to extend the usability of their iPhones and iPads. In January, for instance, Apple announced that it registered a “record-breaking holiday season for the App Store” in 2015, with customers spending $1.1 billion worldwide on apps and in-app purchases during the two-week period ended Jan. 3.

Apple was quick to note that gaming, social networking, and entertainment apps—the same categories that delivered the most revenue to developers in the Sensor Tower study—were most popular during that period.

Apple said in January that it has paid out nearly $40 billion to developers since the App Store’s inception in 2008. The company added that over one-third of that developer revenue was generated in 2015, alone.

It’s worth noting that Apple also benefits from the App Store’s popularity. Before it pays out that cash to developers, the company takes a 30% cut of the revenue generated off paid downloads and in-app purchases.

Still, the market is changing. As several studies over the last couple of years have shown, consumers across Apple’s iOS, as well as Google’s Android, are increasingly choosing so-called “freemium” apps, or programs they can download for free, but include in-app purchases or ads that help developers generate revenue off their creations. While that has hurt the paid-apps market, a study last year from IDC and App Annie found that mobile app revenue was actually up, despite changing consumer desire.

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In addition to analyzing how much iPhone owners spend on their apps, Sensor Tower also examined 2015 U.S. App Store downloads. The company found that the average iPhone owner last year downloaded about 10 games and more than three “photo and video” apps. Those same users downloaded more than three social networking apps and nearly three entertainment programs.

“Of the remaining 18 categories with downloads during the period, Music saw the most with 2.2 installs on average, while Catalogs saw the least with 0.17 per device,” Sensor Tower said in a statement.

So, what can app developers learn? According to Sensor Tower, Americans are most willing to spend money on games, suggesting that a solid title could help generate some revenue. The company also provided some insight into how to make some cash on iPhone users, even if an app isn’t so popular.

“It’s much more difficult for Medical apps to secure installs, by comparison, as they are the second least likely to be downloaded after Catalogs at an average of 0.2 per device in 2015,” the company says. “These apps have the third-highest average gross revenue per install at $0.57, however, which may make the acquisition of these users worth the effort.”

Regardless, at least now you know what you’re spending on your iPhone apps.